I have to give 20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment credit for bringing the concept of the
DVD double feature into the mainstream at the bargain price of $14.98.
THE FLY / RETURN OF THE FLY are a perfect fit that makes for a
terrific evenings entertainment, as long as there’s a nice supply of hot
buttered popcorn to go with the two features.

The 1958 version of THE
FLY is a genuine genre classic, which many dismiss as an inferior
film, because they have only seen bad television broadcasts of the movie.
THE FLY was produced in CinemaScope and featured excellent production
values, solid acting and an intelligent screenplay from James Clavell,
who went onto write such novels as Shogun and Noble
House. Unlike a typical genre movie, THE FLY plays like
a mystery for about three-quarters of its running time, and only then,
switches gears to become a potent science fiction/horror story. Almost
the entire plot is revealed in a flashback sequence, which shows the events
that lead to the death of scientist Andre Delambre (David Hedison- billed
as Al Hedison) and why his loving wife Helene (Patricia Owens) has confessed
to killing him. The cast of THE FLY also features Vincent Price
as Helene’s supportive brother-in-law François and Herbert Marshall as
police Inspector Charas.

Unlike THE FLY, RETURN
OF THE FLY is strictly the type of grade "B" programmer
that generally played the bottom half of a double feature in the good
old days of motion picture entertainment. So in that respect, RETURN
OF THE FLY works very well as the second half of this DVD double feature.
Without the need to keep the audience guessing, RETURN OF THE FLY
doesn’t make an attempt inventive storytelling, going straight to work
to tell a story of science gone horribly wrong. Picking up the story some
years after the death of scientist Andre Delambre, with his son Philippe
(Brett Halsey) finally learning the circumstances of his father’s death
from his uncle François (Vincent Price). Deciding that he must vindicate
his father, Philippe returns to work on the scientific experiment, which
ultimately cost Andre Delambre his life. Unfortunately, Philippe follows
in his father’s footsteps a little too closely and has as accident similar
to the one that befell his father. The plot of RETURN OF THE FLY
contains no surprises, but the film does up the ante on gore, shocks and
violence. The production values are definitely lower on the sequel, with
the movie being filmed in black and white, which signals that the studio
intended this to be a cheap knockoff that would cash in on the success
of the original.

20th Century Fox
Home Entertainment has done a really nice job of bringing THE FLY
and RETURN OF THE FLY to DVD. Each film is offered on a single
side of the disc and both are presented in 16:9 enhanced wide screen,
with their 2.35:1 CinemaScope aspect ratios in tact. THE FLY looks
quite good, displaying a crisp, nicely detailed image. The colors are
somewhat subdued, but they do look a lot stronger than many films that
were processed by DeLuxe in the fifties. DeLuxe color prints had a tendency
to fade quite rapidly back then. Blacks are accurately reproduced, although
the level of shadow detail doesn’t compare to that of modern film stocks.
The print Fox has used to transfer THE FLY is in very good shape,
with only a few minor blemishes being noticeable and very little appreciable
film grain.

RETURN OF THE FLY
has been given a good black and white transfer that is crisper and far
more detailed than the film has looked in cropped presentations. The black
and white image is pretty pleasing, with solid black and fairly pure whites.
Contrast is generally good, although there are moments where the whites
become harsh and threaten the stability of the image. The film element
used to transfer RETURN OF THE FLY to DVD displays more blemishes
than THE FLY, but they are not excessive. Digital compression artifacts
did not become noticeable on either film.

THE FLY is presented
with a Dolby Digital 4.0 channel soundtrack, which directly ports the
film’s fifties mix into the new format. Dialogue is directional across
the forward soundstage in relation to the characters on screen position.
However, the actors’ voices are cleanly reproduced. Surround information
is very limited, occurring only during a few key moments. Additionally,
there are the expected frequency limitations that one finds in recordings
that are over forty years old, although distortion is not a problem, making
the track worth amplifying to recreate that fifties movie theater experience.
A Dolby Surround soundtrack is also present on the DVD, as is a monaural
track.

RETURN OF THE FLY
has been re-mixed to Dolby Surround for this release, although there is
a very limited use of the surround channels. For the most part, RETURN
OF THE FLY sounds like a monaural film, which is fine, since the movie
has few opportunities for sound effects anyway. The original monaural
mix has also been included on the DVD. English and Spanish subtitles are
present on both movies. The basic interactive menus provide access to
the standard scene selection and set up features, as well as theatrical
trailers for the first three double feature DVDs released by Fox.

THE FLY / RETURN OF THE
FLY is a fun DVD that is worth acquiring just for the top half of
the bill. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has done right
by DVD collectors by issuing each of these wide screen films in 16:9 enhanced
transfers. I personally look forward to more Fox double feature DVDs and
hope that they may delve deeper into their catalog and deliver titles
like THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE.